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Pacific Islands World Heritage Workshop 2009

2-7 November 2009

A Pacific Islands World Heritage Workshop was held in Maupiti (French Polynesia) from 2 to 7 November 2009. The workshop served as a follow-up of the Cairns workshop held in Australia in 2008 and gathered representatives from almost all the State Parties of the Pacific in order to achieve the following objectives:

Build capacities among the States Parties;

Introduce the Periodic Reporting exercise.

Achievements and outcome of the workshop:

Each State Party of the region made presentations on the significant progress made in the implementation and the management of the World Heritage Convention.

The Workshop resulted in a Pacific World Heritage Action Plan , which identified main action points to strengthen the implementation of the World Heritage Convention in the Pacific Island region and increase local, regional and global awareness, recognition and support for the conservation of the unique cultural and natural heritage of the Pacific in a way that takes into account the traditions, aspirations, opportunities and challenges of its people. In addition, with an aim to emphasize the profound cultural links among all the peoples of the Pacific, beyond the 'artificial boundaries' of the current geopolitical system, and their relationship with their particular environment, the local authorities promoted during the Workshop the elaboration of an "Ocean Declaration". Based on the ancestral Polynesian saying "Man will pass on and ocean will remain", the Ocean declaration of Maupiti was adopted on 5 November 2009 and translated into French and Tahitian languages.